INDIANAPOLIS – Two-time Olympian and 1999 World Outdoor Championships bronze medalist Curt Clausen and top-ranked American Philip Dunn will lead a stellar field February 15 at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – 50 km Race Walk in Chula Vista, California.

The 50-kilometer (31.4-mile) race begins at 7:30 a.m., and will take place on a 2,000-meter loop course at Chula Vista Marina, the site of the 2002 USA 50 km Race Walk Championships and the 2003 Pan American Race Walking Cup 20 km. In addition to a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team being at stake, a prize purse is being offered to the competitors, with $6,000 going to the winner. The runner-up will earn $4,000 with $3,000 for third place, $1,500 to fourth and $1,000 to fifth place.

A four-time defending national 50 km champion, Clausen also owns five U.S. 20 km crowns and enters the Trials as a favorite to make the Team USA roster for Athens. The American 50 km record holder (3:48:04 in 1999), Clausen resides in Chula Vista and will defend his 2000 Olympic Trials victory, where he took the title in Sacramento with a time of 3:56:16.

Dunn also enters as a favorite, having finished fourth in the 50 km at the 2003 Pan American Cup and fifth at the Pan American Games, and ended the season ranked #1 in the U.S. by Track & Field News. The 2001 U.S. 50 km champion, Dunn placed third at the 2000 Olympic Trials 50 km (4:07.00) and finished 28th at the 2000 Olympic Games (4:03:05) in Sydney. Dunn won the 50 km bronze medal at the 1999 Pan Am Games and set his 50 km personal best of 3:56:13 in 2002, and he finished 14th at the 2001 World Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Edmonton.

Tim Seaman enters the Trials as a three-time U.S. 20 km race walk champion, a four-time U.S. 20 km runner-up and a six-time U.S. Indoor champion. Seaman ended his 2003 season with a bang by setting two road records in two days at the Gehen Cup in Hildesheim, Germany. Seaman placed third overall in the 5 km competition on September 13 in the new American record time of 19 minutes, 9 seconds, bettering his own previous AR of 19:59 set on August 25, 1996 in Wilkes Barre, Pa. Seaman finished sixth in the 10 km race the next day in the new AR of 39:59, which easily bettered Clausen’s record effort of 40:47 on May 4, 1997 in Tarnobrzec, Poland. Seaman, who owns a 50 km personal best of 4:05.35 from 1998, ended the 2003 campaign ranked #2 in the U.S. at 20 km.

Other top contenders and their qualifying times include Sean Albert (4:09:58), Al Heppner (4:11:14), Theron Kissinger of Waterbury, Conn., (4:26:41) and Dave McGovern of Mobile, Ala., (4:31:30). Clausen, Dunn, Seaman, Heppner and Albert all reside in Chula Vista.

For more information on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s 50 km Race Walk Trials in Chula Vista, Calif., visit www.usatf.org.